Les Miserables/ Being a Tourist

             After a long week of interning, I was very ready for a fun weekend.  This weekend my friends Stephanie and Deb (who went to Dublin with me) were in London.  After work on Friday, I headed over to Picadilly Circus to watch the longest running musical of all time, Les Miserables.  Les Mis opened on the West End in 1985 and is currently celebrating its 25^th anniversary.  Even people who do not enjoy or appreciate theatre in the least, could find something to love about Les Mis.  The musical is famous for many songs such as “I Dreamed a Dream”, “Castle in a Cloud”, “Master of the House” and “Do you Hear the People Sing?”   The show was sold out and there were even people inside the standing room (I would never stand for a 3+ hour long show).  We somehow got tickets for only 15 pounds, and it was definitely money well spent. 

Les Mis at the Queen's Theatre

            The performances, scenery and music for the show were all incredible and it is easy to see why it is the longest running musical in the world.   The musical tells the story of Jean Valjean, who is released from prison after spending 19 years there for stealing a loaf of bread for his sisters starving child.  Eventually he rises to become the Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer and a factory owner. However, Valjean has broken parole and a harsh police officer Javert is constantly tracking him down.  As one of his workers, Fantine is about to die, Valjean promises to take care of her daughter, Cosette.  The rest of the musical is focused on the struggle of the French Revolution and the heroic acts of Valjean.  Although the musical was over three hours long, I enjoyed every second of it.  Everyone in the theatre was moved by the musical and many people left crying (not me, but whatever).  I still have quite a few of the songs stuck in my head.  Les Mis will forever remain a classic and is now my second favorite show after The Phantom of the Opera.  

            On Saturday I continued to act my role as a tourist in London with my visiting friends.  I went to Abbey Road to see all the Beatles attractions and then went to see Paul McCartney’s house.  After the tour I walked around St. James park, which is easily the most beautiful park in London.  It is filled with wonderful trees, a giant pond and lots of wildlife. Buckingham palace is also the backdrop of the park.  Later on in the afternoon my friends and I went to a prayer service at Westminster Abbey, which is absolutely beautiful inside.  The Abbey is the venue for the upcoming Royal Wedding and is full of history, holding every coronation since 1066.   Going for a service is also free, while it is 15 pounds ($24) to just enter the church when not attending a service.  Although it is impressive, I cannot justify spending that much money just to see a church, so going to the service was a good option.    After the service we walked around the area up to Trafalgar Square in the midst of huge protests in London, against the cuts in pensions the British govt just put into place.  Hundreds and thousands of Londoners took to the streets in protest, which started to get violent at night.  After the protests, we went to the National gallery where there are paintings by famous artists such as Van Gogh, Monet and Degas.  The museum is one of the largest and most famous art galleries in the world and it has a very impressive collection.    

BEATLES!

Buckingham Palace from St. James Park

Pretty.

Mother and Babies

Believe it or not, this is central London.

Trafalger Square!

Only 489 days to the London 2012 Games!

Londoners are angry. 

            Today I went to Victoria coach station to see Stephanie off back to Brussels and then I met up with Deb to show her around the South Kensington area.  We walked around Hyde Park and then down to Harrods.  We also rode on one of the original Routemaster buses which were built in the 1950's.  Overall, I am having a great weekend here in London and it makes me wonder why I travel so much when I live in the greatest city of Europe.  With only a month left before I go back to the States, I am going to try to enjoy and see as much as London can offer.  I have fallen in love with London and it has really started to feel like home to me in the last few weeks.  I know the tube inside out, I have memorized all the bus routes and I no longer carry around a map, like a true Brit.  London deserves its reputation as one of the best cities in the world.    

An Original 1950's Routemaster. 

Harrods- $8,000 for tea.

Paddington Bear and I are tight. 

Thanks for reading, Ill update soon.

 -Rees

Dublin, Ireland, The Globe Theatre and The British Library.

            On Saturday morning I was picked up at about 4am to head over to the airport for my trip up to Dublin.  Although it was super early I really enjoyed the cab ride, as it was nice to see London in the middle of the night.  There was a peaceful and eerie stillness to the city as we drove past landmarks such as Buckingham palace, Big Ben, the London Eye and the Tower Bridge, all lit up by lights and the moon.

            After my short flight on Ryan Air I took the bus into Dublin city center.  As soon as the bus departed the airport, a welcome video was played which Beautiful Day by U2, which made me really happy.  After checking into the hostel I met up with my friends Stephanie and Deb who are currently studying in Edinburgh and Brussels respectively.  We spent the afternoon on a walking tour, which included all of the major Dublin sights such as Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Stephens Square and Grafton Street.  After the tour we walked around the city some more and went to a few parks.  We also went on a Ferris wheel, which provided a great view of the city.  On Saturday night, Stephanie and I meet up with a few of my other friends and we went to a pub.  At the pub everyone was really friendly and happy since Ireland just beat England in Rugby.  The Irish people were some of the friendliest people that I have meet while abroad and they were all tons of fun.  Everyone in Ireland seems to just come up to you and tell you their life story which I found really interesting about the Irish culture. 

            On Sunday morning I meet up with Stephanie and we walked across Dublin to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which had a very beautiful park right next to it.  After the church we headed further across the city to the Guinness storehouse factory.  The Guinness factory was gigantic and we were able to see how the famous beer is made.  At the end of the tour we were taught how to pour the perfect pint, which involved 6 steps and takes 119.5 seconds.  After pouring my own pint, I received a certificate to acknowledge my serious skills.  The Guinness factory was a lot of fun and we both really enjoyed the experience.  After the factory we walked another 20 minutes to the Kilmainham Goal Jail, but it was closed as tickets were all sold out unfortunately.  Saturday night Stephanie and I grabbed dinner and then just hung out at the hostel since we both had early morning flights.  It was great to catch up with Stephanie as she was abroad last semester also and I only saw her for New Years in the last few months.  Overall I had a great time in Dublin.  It was a pretty city and the people were all very nice and friendly.

Dublin!

Dublin Castle

 

St. Stephen's Green

Deb, Me and Steph in the Park. 

Steph and I at the Guinness Factory. 

Learning to pour the perfect pint.

Success. 

             Today I had a class trip for my British Life and Cultures class to Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and the British Museum.  The Globe theatre was pretty interesting to see and I learned a lot about British theatre during the 16-17^th centuries.  After the Globe theatre, a bunch of us grabbed lunch at a Mexican restaurant, which was pretty good but a bit pricey for lunch.  After lunch we made our way to the British Library where we encountered the worlds worst tour guide.  The guide was boring, didn’t know the answers to anything was really annoying and spoke in a really soft voice that no one could hear.   Even my dull Professor was making fun of her.  Although the tour sucked, it was pretty cool to see original books and documents such as the Magna Carta, The Canterbury Tales, Alice in Wonderland, the worlds oldest Quran and original sheets of paper that the Beatles wrote their lyrics on.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Inside the Globe

The British Library. 

Well, that’s all for now…Im about to go to sleep so I can wake up in time for another week of interning. I'll update soon, whenever I get the chance.
-Rees

Internship and Grandma Visit #2

Dear Readers,

            I know you are all in a state of depression as it has been a while since I updated, but I have been very busy the last two weeks.  After getting back from Spring break, I got myself ready to start my internship at Webdadi and Datography.  For those of you who don’t know, Webdadi is a real estate agency software company and Datography is a digital marketing company targeting the real estate market.  They are both owned by the same owner and I will be working on a marketing project for the two sister companies. 

            On my first day of work I met with my supervisor Elliott and the marketing chair Dan to discuss what I will be working on for the next seven weeks.  They are giving me actual useful work and I have my own desk, computer, phone and email account with the company.  I feel very grown up.  The rest of the first week on the job was spent getting to know my co-wokers and the company culture.  Everyone has treated me with respect and don’t give me menial tasks such as putting things in alphabetical order or fetching tea for everyone in the office.  So far everyone has been impressed with the work I have done and my supervisor has forwarded some of my work to the owner of the company because of my positive contributions to the company. 

             Overall I am excited for the internship, although each day feels very long with the 9-6pm hours.  I leave for work at about 8:30am each morning and don’t get home to Metrogate until it is dark out.  It’s somewhat depressing in a way, but I know that completing an internship abroad will be beneficial to me in the future.  It is also a way for my to experience British culture as I work with all Brits and I can get an understanding of the office culture in the UK. 

            This past weekend I went back to Cardiff, Wales to visit my grandmother again.  Like my first visit, it wasn’t the most exciting weekend of my life but I did enjoy it.  Going to my grandmothers provided me with a much needed relaxing and calm break from the hectic week that preceded it.  It was nice to not spend tons of money and to have someone cook nice meals for me.  The first night I showed her all of my photographs from everything that I have done while abroad which she thoroughly enjoyed and then watched television.  The next day we went to church and later took a walk to the village.  After eating dinner we sat around and talked until her friend Jan came over as she wanted to meet me.  Overall it was a nice visit and it was good to see my grandmother.  She was also very excited to see me as it was her 88^th birthday this week.  Although it is a bit boring for me to spend the weekend without internet and without doing anything that thrilling, I realize that seeing my grandmother is something that I should take advantage of while I still can.  She is a bit too old to take a trip over to America and I really don’t know when the next time I will be back in the UK will be sadly.  Next time I visit in a few weeks can be the last time I ever see her, so I will have to cherish the moment while it happens.

            After getting back on Monday morning I attended my internship seminar class, which is pretty much a bullshit class so we can talk about out internships.  The professor also seems like a miserable bitch.  Tuesday was spent doing last minute papers all day since I realized that I should put no effort into my papers and work here, since I will get an A anyway.  I have handed in crap work lately and my lowest grade has still been an A, so why bother with effort?  FIE academics are literally a joke and I cant believe that students from other schools think they are getting a lot of work here.   I’ve done about 2% of the work I would have done at AU for a semester. 

            Sorry for the long post, but it has been a while since my last post.  This weekend I am heading over to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day weekend which should be a great time.  Ill update when I’m back!

-Rees

Denmark and Sweden

     From Rome I flew on SAS all the way north up to Copenhagen, Denmark.  In Copenhagen I visited and stayed with my AKPsi friends Seth and Richard, who are studying abroad there for the semester.  Their apartment was gigantic and really nice, and it looked like it was right out of an IKEA brochure.  Copenhagen is a completely freezing city and it rarely got above freezing the entire time I was there.  The harbor and the rivers were frozen solid and Seth even walked on a lake.  Thursday night when I got to Copenhagen was spent just walking around the area and then just relaxing and chilling with everyone back at the apartment.  

      On Friday afternoon I walked around the city and saw all of the major sites of the city including the walking street, the frozen canal, the harbor and numerous stores.  For dinner I went with Seth and Richard to their friend Emily's house who is doing a home-stay in Denmark.  For dinner we had an authentic Danish dinner prepared by the host family consisting of lamb, creamed potatoes and numerous foods for dessert.  Overall it was delicious and it was definitely a great way to experience the Danish culture.  Friday night instead of going out, Seth and all of his roommates decided to have people over which ended up being a fun night as tons of people showed up.  

     Saturday afternoon a few of us decided to take the train through Denmark, over the bridge and into Sweden.  We spent the afternoon in the city of Malmo, which is the third biggest city in the country.  We had a great lunch at an Italian restaurant and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city.  Like Denmark, everyone was extremely friendly in Sweden and it was definitely worth going to for the afternoon.  Special shout out to Seth, Richard and all of their roommates for housing me.  Everyone who lived there was really nice, friendly and made me feel at home the entire time.  

     Overall Spring break was a great time, although it was pretty exhausting traveling constantly for 12 days.  When I got back to London it felt like I had not been here in about a month.  In a week and a half I have used British pounds, the Euro, the Czech Crown, the Danish and Swedish Kroner.  It was great to see some of my best AU friends and I loved all the places I have been to.  Through Spring Break I have also reached my semester goal of going to at least 10 different countries.  Now I am back to London for class and my internship starts tomorrow, which I will update everyone about soon! 

---Current Country Count---

1) England

2) Wales

3) Belgium

4) Netherlands

5) France

6) Monaco

7) Scotland

8) Spain

9) Czech Republic

10) Italy

11) Vatican City (Yes, it is a country)

12) Denmark

13) Sweden

-Rees

Copenhagen!

Coldenhagen?  Yep this boat is frozen into the river.

Malmo, Sweden

Rome, Italy

       After my flight from Prague to Rome with Marissa and Alexa, we met up with our AKPsi friend Ross at his apartment.  Ross is one of my good friends who I have known since freshmen year and I was roommates with him last semester at AU.  It was great to see him and then we all headed out to dinner near the Pantheon which was delicious.  The next morning Marissa, Alexa and I headed to the Colosseum area to explore for the afternoon before they had to go back to Nice.
         Going to Rome for me was not about the famous sights or the amazing food since I have been there before, but rather is was about the people I got to see and hang out with.  In addition to Ross, one of my best friends and former roommmate Greg is also studying abroad there.  Originally he was studying in Cairo, Egypt but is now in Rome for the semester after the whole government uprising and chaos there.  Those who know me pretty well either know or have heard of Greg since most of my crazy college stories involve him.
       I did the touristy things in Rome such as go to the Vatican, visit the Colosseum and the Roman forum and eat delicious pizza and gelato.  However I am not going to bother talking about that as Rome was about the people I got to see.  The highlights of the trip were definitely celebrating Ross's 22nd B-day and then going out with Greg the next night.  I haven't had the chance to hang out with any of my good guy friends since I left for Europe in January, so Rome was definitely a great time for me.  Any homesickness that I had for the past few weeks was basically eliminated as I felt just at home while in Rome as I was able to see and hang out with some of my best college friends.
-Rees
P.S.- Special thanks to Ross and his roommates who let me stay there for a few days.

View from the Plane (taken by Alexa).

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

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I really just dont look happy here...

Rome could definitely use a good clean.

Creepy dead Pope.

St. Peters Square- easily one of the most impressive places in the world.

Castel St. Angelo.